Flow microsphere immunoassay-based method of virus quantitation

A sensitive assay for adenovirus quantitation in vitro was developed using the flow microsphere immunoassay (FMIA) approach. Polystyrene microspheres were covalently coated with purified anti-adenoviral antibodies and incubat ed with virus-containing samples. After incubation, the samples were staine d with DNA-specific fluorescent dyes, and microsphere-associated fluorescen ce was quantitated with a flow cytometer: The adsorption of virus to micros pheres was examined under different experimental conditions. The flow cytom etric assay was determined to be as accurate in detecting adenovirus as tit ering on 293 cells. The proposed method can be used to quantify virus in vi ral stock and in biological samples.